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08-20-2024 Work SessionCity Council Work Session Minutes -1-August 20, 2024 ` CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Richfield, Minnesota City Council Work Session August 20, 2024 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Supple called the work session to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Bartholomew Room. Council Members Present: Mary Supple, Mayor; Simon Trautmann, Sharon Christensen; Sean Hayford Oleary, Ben Whalen Staff Present: Guests: Katie Rodriguez, City Manager; Jay Henthorne, Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police; Karl Huemiller, Recreation Services Director; Kate Aitchison, Communications and Engagement Manager; Kristin Asher, Public Works Director; Jennifer Anderson, Support Services Manager; Jamie Haefner, Human Resources Manager; Michelle Friedrich, City Clerk; Mike Dobesh, Fire Chief; Jane Skov, IT Manager; Kim Griffith, Motor Vehicle Supervisor; Chris Fierst, Liquor Store Manager; Melissa Poehlam, Community Development Director; and Courtney Miller, Senior Analyst. Robin Roland, Ehlers Finance Manager ITEM #1 PRESENTATION OF THE 2024 REVISED/2025 PROPOSED BUDGET AND TAX LEVY Mayor Supple welcomed all staff and thanked them for their work on the budget proposal. City Manager Rodriguez provided a summary on the agenda item and reviewed the budget summary slides. She presented the timeline of the budget and levy process. She noted the proposed 2025 general budget of $32,730,849, which is a 5.93% increase from the adopted 2024 budget. She thanked everyone who put the budget together. Manager Roland presented the budget overview for the finance department and shared information on the finance staff. She stated the budget has gone down by a large amount, due to staffing and assessments. The County will now be responsible for all assessments. She noted the department’s goal and initiatives for 2025. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked how many consultants they have with the reduced budget. City Manager Rodriguez explained that when staffing was down, they had three part-time consultants. These consultants were on contract to prepare for the end-of-year audit. City Council Work Session Minutes -2-August 20, 2024 Mayor Supple noted that she saw they had many training opportunities listed and asked if that is the case, so they don't end up in the same situation again. Manager Roland explained that she is here a few days a week to help staff handle money and their accounts. She noted that these have been big problems in the past and that is why she is helping. Chief Dobesh presented the budget overview and plans for the fire department. He provided a summary of the staffing and presented the highlights from the department in 2024. He noted the fire department hit a record number of calls for service. He also noted their goals and initiatives for 2025. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked what is included in the risk reduction activities and if they know how this will impact the future budget. Chief Dobesh noted they are hoping that they will be able to hire a new position to help handle these events and avoid overtime costs. He explained the budget impact should be negligible and they may not know how this will impact the budget fully. Manager Haefner presented the budget overview of the administrative services department. She explained the divisions that fall under the administrative services department and gave an overview of staffing. She presented the budget numbers of the 2024 revised and 2025 proposed and reported on the funds within the budget. City Manager Rodriguez shared more details on the election fund. She noted that the 20.99% increase is due to staffing increases and will be split between departments. Manager Haefner discussed the budget notes. She reported on the highlights from the human resources department. She also presented the many initiatives and goals the department has for 2025. Mayor Supple asked when they were planning to make the switch to Oracle. City Manager Rodriguez explained that this has been put on hold and needs to be brought to the board to make the decision. Clerk Friedrich discussed the highlights of the City Clerk department and provided a summary of the initiatives and goals for 2025. Supervisor Griffith reported the highlights from the Deputy Registrar and discussed the goals and initiatives for 2025. Manager Skov presented the highlights for the building services department. She also presented the IT department’s highlights as well as their initiatives and goals for 2025. She noted that their staff is doing very well and worked great together. Manager Aitchison reported the communications department's highlights and the goals and initiatives for 2025. Council Member Whalen asked to confirm the engagement rate listed in the presentation. Manager Aitchison confirmed that this rate is correct and is a combination of many different types of engagement. City Council Work Session Minutes -3-August 20, 2024 Council Member Hayford Oleary asked to confirm that the 2025 budget has money for the website. Manager Fierst summarized the liquor operations and the department overview. He presented the 2024 revised budget as well as the 2025 proposed budget and each location's budget and revenues. He discussed the budget notes for the department and presented the store managers for each location. Manager Fierst reported the 2024 highlights, 2025 goals and initiatives, and presented the 2024 round-up campaign numbers. He discussed how the opening of the Minnesota dispensaries will impact the department and noted that aging equipment will need to be fixed in the near future. Director Poehlman presented an overview of the community development department and their staffing. She reported the 2024 revised and 2025 proposed budget numbers as well as revenue changes. She discussed her notes on the budget and summarized the 2024 highlights and the 2025 goals and initiatives. She noted they recently promoted their Assistant Planner to the Planner I position. She described the many things that are needed in the near future. Mayor Supple asked what permit cleanup is. Director Poehlman explained that this is the process of going through their data and tracking it all in one place to see who still has outstanding permits and catch up on the numbers. Director Asher presented an overview of the public works department and their staffing. She reported all the divisions under public works, the 2024 revised, and the 2025 proposed budget numbers as well as the revenues. Council Member Whalen asked where they are with the maintenance of the new boulevards and boulevard plantings. Director Asher noted they are doing their best to maintain the new boulevards but have not added new funding to focus on that work so they are looking to contract out that work in the coming year. Council Member Hayford Oleary noted that he would like to see an increase of funds for the median maintenance. He asked his fellow Council Members how they feel about adding more funds to that maintenance work. Council Member Christensen shared her support for adding extra funds. She noted that she has heard many complaints on the issue. Council Member Whalen agreed that it would be worth it to invest in the maintenance. Director Asher presented the budgets by division and their funds. She discussed the notes on the public works budget and summarized an overview of the 2024 public works highlights and the 2025 initiatives and goals. She reported the future considerations and needs in the public works department. Council Member Christen asked if meter replacement has affected the budget and revenue. Director Asher explained that for the budget and revenue, it hasn't made much of an impact, but the meters do now give an accurate reading. Director Huemiller presented information on the recreation services department and their staffing. He presented the 2024 revised and the 2025 proposed budget numbers. He also discussed the revenue numbers. He noted the highlights for the department in 2024 and shared the goals and City Council Work Session Minutes -4-August 20, 2024 initiatives for 2025. He discussed the budget notes for each division in the department. He reported the budget for the special revenue funds and the projects being funded. Mayor Supple asked if they are making more money on the ice arena or are still trying to pay it off. Director Huemiller explained that they will be making a few thousand dollars in revenue, but the $700,000 in profit will be going into the fund balance. Director Huemiller reported the 2024 highlights from the special revenue projects as well as the 2025 initiatives and goals. He also discussed the budget notes from the special revenue funds. He presented the information on the different sustainability funds. There are three divisions in the sustainability fund. He reported the 2024 revised and the 2025 proposed budget numbers. He also shared his notes on the budget and gave the highlights from 2024 as well as the goals for 2025. Manager Anderson reported the support services department information and staffing, noting it is short staffed at the moment and looking to hire a few positions. She presented the budget notes for the department and discussed the support services highlights from 2024 and 2025 goals. She discussed they may need to add a new part-time position to the department and described future needs in the department Council Member Whalen asked how flexible the public health funds are and if the Council is able to make decisions on where the money goes. Manager Anderson explained that not much of the funds are flexible and most of it already has a place to go and a thing to fund. Chief Henthorne reported the public safety department overview and staffing information. He reported the 2024 revised and the 2025 proposed budget numbers as well as the revenue numbers by unit. He discussed the 2024 public safety highlights, 2025 goals and initiatives, and explained the future need and consideration for the public safety department. Council Member Hayford Oleary noted that he would like to see support for traffic safety cameras in the next legislative platform. Chief Henthorne discussed his notes for the department budget, noting that one new police officer has been added to staff. Council Member Trautmann asked about the success of the Flock system in the six robberies. He also asked if these robberies were done in Richfield or by Richfield residents in other places. Chief Henthorne explained that some of these robberies were done by Richfield residents in St. Paul and they were able to arrest them in St. Paul and solve the crime due to the Flock system. Council Member Christensen asked if there are any updates on an SRO in the high school. Chief Henthorne explained they have been in contact with the high school and having discussions about trying to get an SRO back in the school. Mayor Supple asked if the public safety and fire departments are part of job fairs in schools. Chief Henthorne stated they attend most of the main job fairs in Minnesota in hopes of recruiting as many people as possible. City Council Work Session Minutes -5-August 20, 2024 City Manager Rodriguez pointed out that they still have two new additions of police officer positions in the budget. Chief Henthorne stated he is concerned with the big jump in overtime hours and if they don’t hire these new positions, noting the numbers will continue to rise and they may go over budget. Council Member Trautmann noted his concern that they won't be able to fill the positions even if they add them. Chief Henthorne stated he believes that they will fill these shifts and adding these positions will allow the department to open the mid-shift back up and decrease the need for overtime and sick days. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked how many current open positions are in the department and how many people are on leave Chief Henthorne noted they have five open positions and three will be filled. There are two on paternity leave, one injured, one on deployment, and one of the new hires will also be going on deployment shortly after she starts. City Manager Rodriguez stated she sees value in adding these new positions even if they are not filled right away, noting this would send a message to staff that help is on the way and some of that stress may be relieved. Council Member Whalen discussed the thought process of adding these new positions to send a message to staff makes him want to vote no. He would like to hear more information on this before the vote including more data on how quickly they would be able to fill the positions. Council Member Trautmann discussed the possibilities of adding different types of positions to relieve some responsibilities while they wait to fill the officer spots. He would like to know what help they need to solve some of their problems and more information and data before a decision is made. Mayor Supple noted that she is in favor of adding these new positions and hopes they can get filled soon. Council Member Christensen shared that she would like to be able to help the officers in some way even if they can’t fill the open positions. Council Member Hayford Oleary would like more information on when they would start taking the money to add these new positions. He is still unsure if he is in favor of adding two positions and may be in favor of adding one instead of two. Council Member Hayford Oleary asked if the Council approves FTEs or just dollar amounts. City Manager Rodriguez stated the Council approves the dollar amounts and she feels there is enough consensus to move forward in the budget on this decision. City Manager Rodriguez presented an overview of the legislative and executive department. She reported the department's 2024 revised and 2025 proposed budget. She also shared her budget notes and discussed the 2024 highlights, 2025 goals, and initiatives. She described the future needs and considerations for the department. ADJOURNMENT City Council Work Session Minutes -6-August 20, 2024 Mayor Supple adjourned the work session at 7:18 pm. Date Approved: September 10, 2024 Mary B. Supple Mayor Michelle Friedrich Katie Rodriguez City Clerk City Manager